Delete Android Phone Activity and Disable Voice Recording Permanently

From Microsoft to Google, every company is listening to you all the times. Although it was proved that Facebook is not listening to your voice via microphone, this is true that Google is recording all the thing via their Android operating system. Being said that here is how to delete android phone activity that Google has recorded and disabled voice recording permanently without using any third-party software.

What is android phone activity?

As the name defines, you can find all the activities using this tool. In other words, your android mobile records everything or keeps a log of every action you perform on your mobile. It includes, where you visited, which app you opened, how many times you have opened an app when you have opened an app, what you have done with that app, and so forth.

Not only just your Android phone, but also Google records everything through the email ID you have created on Gmail. That means it records everything that you have done on any computer after logging into the Gmail account.

What does it record in particular?

There is no such thing in particular since Google shows only a few things out of hundreds of recordings, according to some professional security researchers. Roughly said, it records the following things:

Ads

Android

Assistant

Books

Chrome

Developers

Google Cloud

Google Play Store

Help

Image Search

Maps

News

Play Music

Search

Video Search

Voice & Audio

Each category has tons of sub-categories. For example, the Assistant can record all the voice searches, your info, contact list, music, apps, call logs, messages, etc. On the other hand, the Search can do the same. In the other news, you can find some voice or audio recordings in the Voice & Audio menu.

When does it get enabled? Did you allow it?

It gets enabled automatically, and you have allowed it to record everything.

Surprised?

Getting problems to remember when you permitted Google to track your activities?

Let’s rewind.

When you made a Gmail ID, Google showed some terms & conditions, and you accepted that without reading.

Isn’t it?

That is when you have allowed Google to track you or keep a log of every activity.

When did I allow Google to track my android phone?

Again! Let’s rewind.

During the phone setup – mainly when you added the Gmail account to your phone – you have accepted some T&C without even reading what you are agreeing. That is when you have given access to your activities to Google.

What does Google do with this information?

Google mainly takes care of the Voice & Audio activity since this is important for you as well as the company. According to the official statement, Google does collect such information because of these following reasons.

They want to improve the personal user experience. Not only Google but also there are hundreds of other companies, websites, etc. which collect different information like name, pin code, mobile number, location, IP, browser, etc. As per them, they do it to improve the user experience.

They want to improve the sound of your voice. There is a couple of functionalities included in your phone those are voice related. For example, you can unlock the phone with our voice, type using voice command, etc.

OK Google: This is the primary reason, why Google listens to your voice and records it accordingly. “OK Google” is an important and useful feature for any person, who wants to do something without even touching the mobile. From listening to your favorite song to sending a WhatsApp message, everything is possible with OK Google feature. To do that, Google needs to understand the depth of your voice so that it can perform the job better at any condition.

Ads: When you visit a webpage, and it is showing AdSense advertisements, it gets stored in the Google’s activity monitor. It happens because Google needs to display more aggressive and to-the-point ads so that they as well as the publisher can earn more money.

Search: The Search section will let you know what you have searched for in last few days. Again, they need to collect this information so that they can understand the search behavior of a user. It requires to show more certain advertisements, improve search result, related phrases, etc. On the other hand, you get more associated cards on the Google Now page because of these recordings.

Location: Although Google has not said anything, yet, this is proved that Google records almost every step you have made even when you are offline or using airplane/flight mode. According to Google officials, they need to track you or collect the location information because they want to show more details on Google Maps, display weather information, etc.

There are more other reasons why Google collects the data, but these are some of the most common and widely known reasons.

Why should you delete “Activity” frequently?

For a regular user, who doesn’t know anything about these things, this is not a problem. However, if you are very much concerned about your online privacy or you do not want to let Google takes care of your online preferences, you should delete all these recorded activities frequently. As Google collects such information all the times, you can perform this check once a week or even every day.

Will you find any difference after deleting all activities?

Yes, you may find some significant difference in various apps including Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Chrome, etc. If you have been using the OK Google voice command for a long time, you might find some significant difference in this app as well. While giving different commands, you might find it quite tricky.

How to Delete Android Phone Activity?

This is very easy and not much time consuming as well since Google allows you to do so from a very comprehensive user interface. With that said, you need to open your computer’s browser, and head over to this page. To access it correctly, you need to sign into your Gmail account. This account should be same as the one that you are using on your android phone.

Following that, you can find all the information that Google has collected from your phone. In other words, you can see recently opened apps, frequency, time intervals, etc.

Just scroll down to find out all the info it has collected. To delete this stored information, click the three dotted button and select Delete.

You should find a message like this:

Your activity can make Google services more useful to you, like better commute options in Maps and quicker results in Search.

Just click the OK button to make it happen.

In case you want to delete all the activities irrespective of apps and device, you can select All Products and do the same as you have done in the above step. There is another option to the same, and that is called Delete activity by topic or product. Click on the corresponding button > select the day (Today, yesterday, last seven days, last 30 days, all time), or time, or product and click the DELETE button.

Delete voice recordings from Google account

The worst part of Google’s collection is it records unwanted voice all the times. You cannot know when it started recording and when it has stopped. However, you can find what Google has recorded on your phone. For that, open Google My Activity page, click the Filter by date & product option, choose Voice & Audio.

Now you can find all the recordings, recording date/time, source app, etc. To delete any recording, click the three-dotted button and select Delete.

Disable Voice Recording Permanently

If you do not want Google to record your voice, there is a way to stop that. However, you need to take care of few things, and they are mentioned below.

First, revoke Google’s access to your microphone.

Second, disable OK Google anytime.

Third, disable Google Assistant.

Fourth, disable Google Voice history.

First three things can be done on your android mobile, and the last one can be done from the computer.